Credit List

Aim: To show that there are many,many players out there, most of whom have their own little tips and tricks, but overall the general rules are common among most players.To remind you that I'm not the "oracle" who knows it all, once you've learnt the basics and then gained some experience you can say with some justification that you know as much as anyone else does about the game

I wrote this entire guide all on my own during the mad month of March in 1999. Since I knew there were several players as good or better than me on my own tour I then passed this over to them for their comments/suggestions/amendments, so the result is an even more complete guide to the game. Many thanks to all of you listed below for your efforts and contributions, rest assured you have helped a great many people and hopefully this guide will become quite a well known stopover for players trying to improve. If it makes the competition tougher, then I'm all for it. Notice also that I've thrown this into the public domain for free, that's because it would be rude to charge for something which is hardly original information. I have put a lot of time and effort into it though so I ask that this guide is kept in its original format and in its entirety and where it is posted for general usage, I ask that you credit the author ( ie me!) and also post a link to my PGA Tour site for Links99 ( URL on contents page )

FORE LEFT
Many thanks to ForeLeft (Mike Metter) who supplied the excellent section on calculating drift for sidehill lies and for up and downhill lies. Really, this is the only major addition to the guide, and it is extremely accurate,useful, and best of all easy, and now I know where to look I can do it by eye without going the whole hog and counting the steps.

JAYESS
Reminded me about the lie effect on winds, and suggested that rather than hit a driver at less pace, better to club down and keep to your normal 12 o'clock - 6 o'clock rythymn.Thanks also to the wonderful effort (time and style) he puts in running the weekly LDSD Tour magazine with the help of the other Jimmies,Stanley and Trawets (HvnAFit and Zeke)

CRANKSHAFT
I lost the email he sent me (haha, sorry Bob, thats Bob McKay to those that dont know) but I think it was also related to the keeping as much as possible to the 12 and 6 o'clock timing, and also his snap routine consists of releasing the mouse button at 12 o'clock, but not completely releasing the pressure, so his finger is still tight against the button for the fast reaction at 6 o'clock.Having examined this, it is also what I do, and I think if you completely take your finger off the button you are more likely to "snatch" at it at the bottom of your snap.

ROBERT LINDQUIST
Also agreed that it is always best to play a full 12-6 shot and keep your normal timing in shape. ( I still like my half shots though !). Also cried out for some metric help, which might have to be a bit of further work when I have time

McAVOY7
Mentioned that for shots out of sand close in, better to play them as normal shots ( not chip ) and go for the normal 6 o'clock snap rather than try the new 5 o'clock pick point....my sentiments exactly Greg (Graf), wish I could play them as well as you though

LDSDWILS
My old mate Wils (Luke Wilson) from work came up with the idea about adjusting the loft on your club to balance out a lie for chip shots. Cheers Wils, and yet again I wish I could chip as well as you and Horns (Matt Steer)...comes in quite handy at champ level

MILESZCHUA
Thanks to Miles, not only for his boundless and amazing enthusiasm, but also for his great work in his interviews with the winners on this tour, which are a thoroughly entertaining read, and very interesting to see how different players agree and disagree on various methods of playing. Not only that, but he also helped me list some sites which offered further tips...an all round "great guy"

SUEMI
I'm thanking her in advance because I hope she will help spread this work around at the TPC, which you'll all be familiar with. Sue is a chairman there now, and there's nothing that cheers me up more than a dominant woman in some big boots in the boardroom ! haha, sorry Sue, and thanks in advance for your help in getting the word out.

19th Hole Workers
I'm sure this team will grow, but I know Jimmy Stanley and Jimmy Trawets are helping JayEss (Jay Scarpa) out on this, thanks for your time guys, it means a lot to see people from all ends of the tour getting involved and I'm sure your peers will appreciate a view from close to their patch.Sorry for anyone joining the team after I wrote this

KISS Team
My,my, another thanks to Zeke (Jimmy Trawets) who not only helps with the magazine, but also runs our cross-tour challenge against Chris Gormley's KISS tour, thanks also to Chris for his help/advice and comments along the way and for his general support of my tour even with running his own excellent one

Ernie B
Another familiar figure to most of you, thanks to Ernie for many comments and suggestions, and also for his (forthcoming) help in promoting this tour and the guide around the Links community, and to find a "launcher" solution to play our games on this tour. Ernie has also endowed us all with a wealth of information on acing the par3's in Links, so i would check his site out !

GREEK WIZARD
a.k.a Steve Vihos, and a strong member of the TPC team, Steve is helping me to weed out and expose the few sad individuals who see unable to play their games in the correct spirit, but feel the need to "improve" their scores by various foul means, hopefully with his help, we'll get all these suckers out of here. Also hoping to get help here from FreddieB (Briggson) and Steve Miller (MillerLight) who have been keeping an eye on some of the irregularities...

Ryder Cup Teams 1998
Nothing to do with this guide, but once again I wanted to express my thanks and admiration for all the players who were involved in last years Ryder Cup, although we had a couple of hairy moments, it was amazing fun and incredible pressure and tension, and made the whole year worthwhile. Let's hope the addition of a Ryder Cup style event for all four tiers on tour will make it an even more amazing way to round off the season.

LDSD Tour 99
Firstly, my thanks to my original LDSD colleagues, Wils and Horns (research colleagues) who have come all the way with me on the Links journey, always providing entertaining and challenging ( yet humiliating for them) games in our office...only j/k, my taunts that they'll "never beat the bomber" are based on the knowledge that all too frequently, the bomber is well and truly beaten by both of them. Sad to see we lost the Cainster and Pidge from our LDSD team, but thanks to the (good lord!) 201 of you who are currently registered on this tour, I simply cannot comprehend how this tour has exploded from a hardcore group of about 30 regulars last year to the monster of today, but its wonderful, and I really do mean it when I say this is "your tour"....and its your presence on it that makes it so special for me to have the privelige of running.

Driving Force Team
Signed up with them last year because they had the right attitude (fun and friendship)...sad to say I havent been much use to them of late, but they are getting better without me I see, but I wanted to thank them, and in particular Brenam and Brenracin for asking me along, and to all the other players I've had the pleasure of partnering in team games, I wish them all the best in the future and hope to drop in from time to time, oh yeah, sorry I nicked the inhouse trophy for an extended period too, it was too nice a trophy to let go though ! I should also mention my good German buddy here, UdoK, who has been a great friend since the beginning, only sorry I dont get to play golf with him so much anymore

The American Pitbull
Me old mucker, Seano1, thanks for all your help ever since I started out, advice and help and general matesmanship, always a tough little bastard to play, he seemed to have a jinx on me, which I managed to lose at last, but he's always a tough game, but very enjoyable and challenging, and I'm sure he's king of the beer swillers, for which I award a mark of "maximum respect"

Spiral56 & Mhbbr
Am hoping he will somehow see this and get his fat,lazy ass over here onto my tour. A wonderful guy, and a great player, had some superb games with him and his bitch Mhbbr, so this is more of an attempt to get them to notice this dedication and get back over here where they belong,these guys are the original "paparsed twats"

JimDog
Special thanks to JimDog for his friendship, what a great player and champion, and finally getting the dollars which eluded him last year, the guy is sheer class, an amazing player and a great guy, just wish he'd stop hammering me this year though.....

Elwood
Likewise, Elwood, if you see this, come back buddy, we all miss you...last years monster, Terry was the man to beat, and although I had hoped for a lot more varied names in the winners circle this year, its about time Elwood came back and reminded the new big guys just what he was made of...

Hammer
I couldnt possibly forget Hammer, whose posts in the boardroom and emails to me, literally cause me to piss my pants at times, what a comedian, the guy is insane, and its probably not fair to omit his (seemingly) sidekick Darel for his witty retorts...you guys kill me

LinksDog
My good Aussie mate Les, thx for all your help and friendship along the way pal, best of luck in your LGC tour, and I'll never forget how you saved my ass in last years Ryder Cup game against JayEss and Magi3

Magi3 and Gto
A special thank you once again to you two boys for your perfect attendance record in last years tour events, that meant a whole lot more to me than you can imagine, also both great guys and super players, best of luck in 99

Anyone Else
The bad thing about a page like this is I will always forget people who I shouldnt, so apologies in advance to all those in the know, if you know you should be in here, then please believe I do too, I just darned forgot amidst all this massive list, hey, why not send a rude email to me and I'll slot you in somewhere on this page....

My Amateurs
My favourite people on this tour, guys like BigJim, Jamie Watkins, Dirt,HeatheC,Milesz,Timo1,Plug, all of you who turn up week-in, week-out, whatever the conditions, no bitching, whining or complaining, these guys do their best, have some fun and play the right way, this guide is more than anything dedicated to you guys, who despite a few technical probs from time to time, never give me trouble or attitude, always stick at it, and maintain a generally cheery and entertaining tone throughout, and probably more than anyone else on this tour,really enjoy themselves. I hope to God that this guide will shave shots off your games, because you deserve it with the way you carry yourselves on this tour. Many,many people on this tour could learn A BIG LESSON by behaving with the class of these guys....

Colossus66
Thanks to Paul Harder who offered his services in the graphics department, and did some very cool logos which I havent made use of yet, I am hoping I can persuade him to join the tour magazine where his efforts can be put to great use.

"The Brits"
Glad to see so many new Brits signing up this year, hope to see you in the ryder cup, but this thanks is to those of you I know from last year, basically DJDave,BilboBagger,Mimic and Jez....always good to get a down to earth english conversation after sitting in the mplayer lobby and listening to the Jerry-Springer style method of setting games up..hahahahahah

DogLeg,Dirt,Double-D and Dufferz
Just here because they begin with "D".No,really. OK then its just a coincidence that these boys are some of the nicest, most respectful blokes here. I always laugh because Wes's emails always get lumped next to Vinces via alphabet sorting, so I always think " DogLeg-Dirt" which gets shortened to "dogdirt"...guaranteed to make me laugh, which shows you what a silly ass I am. Dufferz, another TPC-ite, has been one of my best supporters and promoters and his emails always fill me with thoughts of world domination, well they cheer me up anyway. Double-D is a revelation, signed up late last year and it was so cool to see him progress from a very good player to a great player and (surprise!) one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet, so there, good win at Bay Hill as well, even if you did help rob me of my first win you thieving gypsy

Some Others
Wow, do I go on and on and on, sorry for any misses, these are all guys on this years roster I recognise from last, that havent been mentioned yet....Storm-X,Tre-Putt,Hay-Madi,Gambit23 and Scratch. Thanks to Gambit for his general friendliness and good humour, and I will put in here the likes of FreddieB, Bub, and Soccerbum, I knew of you before, but glad you have signed up this year, and you've all made significant contributions to the tour...hello also to my mate Improviser wherever he may be, and my final three thanks go to OhNoNo, the crazy and individual Dane, who never stops amusing me, also McAvoy7 who has been with me from day one, and was always a top man, now a top player too ! and last, but not least Grj, or Gene Samuelson, another one of the amazing individuals that make you glad you took up the game, a fabulous player and a fabulous man.

Cheers to you all, and sorry if I missed anyone ( which I'm bound to have )

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